Machine foe sewing bands to knitted work



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. L. OTIS.

MACHINE FOR SEWING BANDS T0 KNITTED WORK. No. 279.003. Patented June 5,1883.

I MITIIIHHJ (No Model.) 2 Sheets-..Sheet 2.

S. L.' OTIS. MACHINE FOR- SEWING BANDS T0 KNITTED WORK.

No. 279,003. Patented June 6,1883.

UNITED A STATES PATENT OFFICE;

SAMUEL L. OTIS, OF BIRMINGHAM, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO A. H. & B.

ALLING, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FCR S EWlNG BANDS TO KNITTED W ORK.

{SPECIFICATION forming part of'Letters Patent No. 279,003, dated June 5, 1883. Application filed January 15, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, SAMUEL L. Oris, of Bir- 1ningham,-in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Im- 5 provement in Machines for Attaching Bands to Knitted XVork; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and

to exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in I Figure 1, atop view; Fig. 2,-a side view;

Fig. 3, a top view; and Fig. 4, a vertical ceir tral section of the head enlarged; Figs. 5, 6,

and 7, detached views.

This invention relates to an improvement in machines for attaching the bands to the legs of stockings, wrists of wrappers, legs of drawers, and like purposes, and commonly called looping or turning-off machines.

In the usual method of manufacturing knit goods by machinery, stockings, drawers,wrappers, &c., are provided with bands or borders around the wrists of the sleeves of the wrapper, the legs of the drawers, and the tops of stockings, which are seamed, and thereby. made considerably elastic, so as to permit the passage of the extremities through them, and

0 contract onto thelimbs- These strips or bands are best woven separate and independent of the article and stitched thereto.

The object of my invention is to construct a machine in which the two parts may be con- 3 5 veniently stitched together with an elastic stitch or loop; and my invention consists, principally, in constructing a machine having a head to'hold the article circular in form, pro vided with radially-projecting fingers corre- 0 sponding in number to the number of stitches in the parts, and so that the parts may be placed thereon, the stitches in the meeting edges of the parts passing onto the respective radially-proj ecting fingers, leaving the stitches of both parts exposed on one side of the fingers, while the parts themselves hang from the opposite side, and combining therewith a stit ching mechanism which will inter-lace a thread with the stitches as thcy'are respectively presented to the stitching mechanism by the rotation of the head which carries the said fingers,

' enlarged.

and in details of construction, as more fully hereinafter described.

A is the bed of the machine; B, the principal ordriving shaft, supported in suitable bearings, G O, and to which power is applied through a pulley, D, or crankwheel E, or otherwise.

From this bed brackets F extend forward and support'a vertical shaft, G. On the lower end of the said shaft G is the head H, upon which the parts to be stitched together are arranged. This head is shown detached in Figs. 3 and 4, It is circular in form, corresponding, substantially, to the diameter of theparts to be stitched. On its upper surface fingers a are arranged, firmly secured to the head, and projecting radially beyond its edge. Each finger is grooved upon its upper surface, as seen in Fig. 5. These fingers are best made as seen in Fig. 4, so that their inner end stands beneath a ring, I, by which ring they are firm- 1y clamped to the head, turned slightly upward as they project from the head, as seen in Fig. 4.

For different size diameter of parts or different number of stitches in the parts difi'erent heads are made, each head being provided with fingers corresponding to the number of stitches in the parts to be secured together. These heads are made readily detachable from the shaft-as, for instance, by means of a locking-key, L, which,-turned in one direction, will engage the shank L of the head when inserted into its proper position in the shaft, as seen in 3 and 4.

To insure the proper relative position of the head to the shaft, so that the fingers may coincide with the needle, as hereinafter described, a stud, b, is arranged on the head to enter a corresponding hole in the end of the shaft, as seen in Fig. 4, or other provision may be made, it only being essential that the head shall be arranged so that the fingers shall correspond with the needle, as hereinafter described.

M is the needle-arm, hung at d, and to which a vibratory movement is imparted by an cecentric, N, on the drivingshaft. At its lower end it carries a needle, 6, which, in its vibration, passes into the groove of the fingers on the head H as they are respectively presented. fis the looper attached to a lever, O, operprojecting radially therefrom.

ated by a cam, P, on the driving-shaft to in terlaee the needle-thread when it shall have passed through theloops of the parts to be stitched.

The stitching mechanism-that is, the thread and the looperare common and well-known devices, and may be'any of the usual needle and I looping mechanisms, it only being essential that there shall be a needle and some mechanism by which the thread may be interlaced to form an elastic stitch.

At the upper end of the shaft G is a toothed wheel, R, the number of teeth corresponding to the number of fingers on the head. It is made fast to the shaft, and so as to revolve in the same plane with the head H.

On the driving-shaft is a cam, S,having a rib which runs between the teeth of the wheel R at one point in its periphery. This rib is cut and a portion, bent out of the plane-of the rib to the extent of one tooth of the wheel B, so that as the cam S revolves the rib will hold the wheel stationary until the bend y comes to the tooth. Then a movement of the wheel R will occur equal to the bend-t-hat is, one tooththe original plane of the rib reengaging the wheel as soon as the movement has been made. This movement of the wheel occurs between each operation of the stitching mechanism, and is the feed for the work. It will be understood, under this arrangement, that the teeth inthe wheel R must correspond to the fingers on the head, and when a head having a different number of fingers is to be illtroduced the wheel must be changed accordingly. This change is easily made by removing the nut on the upper end of the feed-wheel shaft, which will permit the shaft to be drawn downward, so that the feed wheel may be withdrawn. The plate V and arm 1): may be retained upon the respective wheels, or taken from the one and placed upon another.

The pulley D is arranged loosely upon the shaft, while the wheel E is fixed thereto. The face of the pulley next the wheel is provided with a common clutch-pin, which will engage a corresponding part of .the wheel, so that when the pulley is moved toward the wheel it engages it and causes the power to be applied to the machine, or when moved away from the wheel will disengage the power-a mechanism too well known to require detailed descrip tion.

T U are two arms of a lever hung upon a pivot, 71, so as to swing in a horizontal plane, its one arm, T, provided with studs to engage a rib, 1 on the pulley, so that by turning the said lever in one direction the pulley will be moved into engagement with the shaft, and in the opposite direction will be disengaged.

On the wheel R, or attached to the shaft so as to move with the wheel, is a disk, W, near the periphery ofwhich are bored several holes, I 1, these holes distant from each other, say, about equal to three teeth of the wheel.

Over this disk is an arm, m, hung to the shaft, and

It is loose upon the shaft, so that it may be moved independent of the shaft; but between it and the shaft is a frictional connection produced by the spring or, (see Fig. 6,) which is sufficient to impart the movement of the shaft to the arm and cause it to move with it with considerable force;

but yet when a resistance is applied to the armgreater than that friction, then the arm will stand, while the shaft will revolve. This arm is provided with a stud, r, in line with the holes I, that series of holes being'in a circle, of which the center of the shaft is the center and so that the stud r will enter either of the holes to which the arm may be presented. On its upper side this arm M carries a stud, 2, in such position that when the machine is working at a certain time the stud i will strike the arm U of the clutch-lever and serve to turn that lever to disengage the power, the direction of the wheel R- and the arm indicated by the arrow in Fig. '1. If, therefore, at the time thestitching commences the arm at be set so that its stud will have just passed the arm U of the clutchlever, so as to permit that lever to be turned to engage the power, a complete and. full revolution of the wheel will have brought the stud t of the arm against the clutch-lever and disengaged the power, so that the machine would stop when a full revolution had been made; but in order to fasten the thread it is necessary that the stitching should continue a little more than the full circle-that is, that it shall stitch through two, three, or more ofthe first loops made. To accomplish this object thereis a stationary inclined cam, 2, arrangedin the path of a finger, 3, projecting from the arm m. (See Fig. 7 This cam 2 stands beneath the clutch-levcr-in Fig. 1 a portion of the arm U of that lever is broken awayto show the camand as the arm m approaches the lever the finger 3 rides up on the cam 2, the arm yielding to permit it so to do, and so as to take the stud 1' from the hole in which it stood, and thus disconnect it from the wheel. The resist ance which the riding up of the finger 3 onto the cam produces slackens somewhat the speed at which the arm moves, so that the hole in which the stud r then stood will pass slightly beyond the pin. The arm continues its movement over the cam 2, and, falling upon the opposite side, strikes upon the surface ofthe disk W' between the holes, and at that time the stud t comes against the arm U of the clutch-lever. The resistance ofthat lever overcomes the frictional power applied by the shaft to the arm in, and the arm will there rest until the wheel, advancing, brings the next hole beneath the stud .r, and when that condition is reached the stud falls into that hole, and thus i'e engages the wheel V, and then the power is applied to continue the rotation of the arm, and in such movement will turn the clutch-lever to disengage the power. Thus it will be seen that between the time of startingand the time ofstopping there has been one full revolution of the wheel 1%, and so much. more as the distance between the hole with which the arm was engaged cranes 3 and the hole with which it is now engaged, I ted'parts to be united, afeed wheel, and mechand those holes being distant-from each other,

say, three stitches, it follows that the stitching has been doubled in the three first stitches taken, and consequently the thread fastened. This stitching will leave the arm at and its stud t in the same relation to the stitching mechanism that it first started, so that, beginning at that point to stitch the next work, it will proceed as before and lap the three stitches at the finishing.

A spring-latch, l, is provided, with which 1 the clutch-lever will engage when the power is disconnected, so as to hold the power detached, and when it is required to start the machine it is only necessary to raise that latch and turn the lever to its place of engagement. This turning of the lever into engagement may be and should be produced by a suitable spring, as seen at 5, Fig. 1.

One great advantage of my improvement consists in the fact that the head His circular in form, and with radially-proj ecting fingers corresponding in number to the number of stitches in the parts to be united, and is also made readily detachable from its shaft. This enables the operator to detach the head from the machine to arrange the work upon it, and having, say, two heads, she can arrange the work on the one detached while the stitching is being done on the other, upon which the work was previously arranged, and therefore no loss of time occurs. The machine, being automatic, after the work is once properly arranged and the power applied, will run until completed, and will then automatically stop and permit the removal of the head, with its work completed, and the introduction of the second head with its work to be done, and having different heads for different workthat is, different number of fingers, according to the different number of stitchesany extent or variety of work may be done upon the machine, and not many different machines, as heretofore required.

1. The combination of the rotating head H, carrying radially projecting fingers corresp onding in number to the stitches in the knit anism, substantially such as described, to impart intermittent rotation to said feed-wheel and head corresponding to the distance between the fingers, a needle arranged to work in a path parallel with the face of the fingers and close thereto, and mechanism, substantiallysuch as described, to interlace the needle-thread, the said head detachable from its shaft andinterchangeable with other heads, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the rotating head H, carrying radially projecting fingers corresp ending in number to the stitches in the knitted parts to be united, a feed-wheel and mechanism, substantially such as described, to impart intermittent rotation to said feed-wheel and head corresponding to the distance between the fingers, a needle arranged to work in apath parallel with the face of the fingers and close thereto, and mechanism, substantially such as described, to interlace the needle-thread, a disk arranged upon the shaft carrying the said head and feed-wheel, and so as to revolve therewith with the armm in frictional engagement with the shaft and positive engagement with thedisk, a stationary cam, 2, arranged to dis engage the said arm from said disk at a pre' determined time and permit it to re-engage at a later period, and a clutch-1ever with which said arm will come in contact after such reengagement and disconnect the power, substantially as described.

The combination of the head H, provided with radially-projecting fingers, the toothed wheel.R,and ribbed cam S, and stitching meclr aiiism substantially such as described, the disk V on the feed-wheel, the arm on, hung to the shaft with frictional engagement, the said disk provided with a' series of holes concentric with the shaft, the stud r and stud ton the arm, the finger 3, also on said arm, the stationary cam 2, and the clutch-lever, substantially as described.

SAMUEL L. OTIS. 

